Fountain pen



Dec. 23, 1924. w. WILLIAMS 1520164 FOUNTAIN PEN 2 sheets-sheet i Filed Nov. 50, 1923 Illlllllllll-Illlllll maart/@1.1101723 Dec. 23

W. WILLIAMS FOUNTAIN PEN Filed Nov. 30, 1923` 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Waler Millazms Patented Dec. 23, 1924.

UNlTE STATES yVVAL'IER WILLIAMS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOUNTAIN PEN.

Application filed November 30, 1923.

T 0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, W'ALTER VILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fountain Pelis, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in fountain pens and more particularly to that type which are commonly known as self-lling.

One of the objects ofthe present invent-ion is to provide a fountain pen of the type referred to so constructed that the filling operation may be performed expeditiously and without difficulty.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fountain pen of the self-filling type in which the means for compressing` the ink sack and relieving the same of pressure will cooperate with the sack in such a manner as to cause practically no wear thereon so that there will be no likelihood of the sack becoming punctured or worn away to such an extent as' to require replacement.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a pen of this type, means whereby light pressure is continuously exerted against the ink sack throughout its length to influence free flow of the ink without at the same time unduly expelling the same in undesirable quantities.

Another' object of the invention is to provide, in such a pen, means for indicating to the user, at any and all times, the approximate volume of ink supply in the sack so that the user may at any time ascertain whether or not the pen requires refilling.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through a fountain pen constructed in accordance with the present invention, the parts being in the positions which they will occupy when the pen is filled with ink;

Figure 2 is a similar view illustrating the positions which will be occupied by the parts when the pen is substantially empty;

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse. sectional view on the line 3 3 of Figure 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Figure -i is a side elevation in detail of l the valve of the pen, the ink sack being shown in section Serial No. 677,759;

Figurel 5 is an end elevation of the indicator device of the pen;

figure 6 is a plan view of the indicator device;

Figure 7 is a group perspective view illustrating the parts of the indicator device removed from the pen and relatively separated;

Figure 8 is a detail vertical sectional view through a portion of the valve;

Figure 9 is a-horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line 9-9 of Figure 3 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Figure 10 is a similar view taken substantially on the line 10-10 of Figure 4 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

In the drawings, the barrel of the penis indicated by the numeral 1 and is of the usual cylindrical tubular forni and provided at its lower end with the usual tip 2 for supporting the pen point (not shown),

the tip being provided with the usualinkduct indicated by the numeral 3 and which duct 1s 1n communication, at its upper end,

with the interior of the barrel of the-pen.

The ink duct 3 is formed in a centralr core 4 constituting an integral part of they tip v 2, and fitted to this core at its `upper end,

The means provided for exerting light pressure against the ink sack 7 when filled and actuatable to relieve the sack of pressure to permit of expansion of the same to draw in ink in the refilling operation, as previously referred to, is supported bya cap 8 which is frictionally and removably litted into the upper end of the barrel 1. rlhe said means includes, among other elements. a presser arm which is indicatedin general by the numeral 9 and which, at its upper end,.supports a spindle 10 upon which are mounted anti-friction rollers 11 designed `to ride against the under side of a boss 12 formed upon the under side of the cap 8. The said boss 12 is provided with a diametric slot 13" slidably receiving the upper end ot the arm 9, and said end of the arm further supports a spindle 14 upon which are mounted substantially semi-spherical anti-friction rollers 15 which travel in grooves 16 formed in the opposite side walls of the said slot 13. In this manner the presser arm 9 is suspended within the barrel of the pen and from the cap 8 both tor pivotal movement and for movement bodily in a direction diametric to the axis of the barrel. It will be observed by reference to Figures 1 and 2 otl the drawings, that the presser arm extends downwardly within the barrel of the pen along one side of the ink sack 7, and when the sack is fille-d with ink as illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawings, the arm occupies a position close to one side oi the wall of the barrel of the pen and between the said wall and the adjacent side ot the ink sack. lhen the ink sack is more or less emptied of its contents, the presser arm assumes approximately the position shown in Figure 2, in which position it is still resting in engagement with the side ot' the ink sack but is displaced inwardly from the portion oi' the wall of the barrel of the pen against which portion it formerly rested. In order that the presser arm 9 may be caused to exert light pressure against the ink sack 7, an arm 17 is secured to the cap 8 and extends downwardly into the barrel of the pen beside the wall thereof and opposite the arm 9, and a leatspring 18 is secured at its lower end, as at 19, to the lower end of the said arm 17, and at its free upper end bears against the arm 9 near the upper end of said arm. The pressure exerted by the arm 9, through the medium of the spring 18 and against the ink sack 7, is not sulticient to forcibly eject an undesirable quantity of ink from the sack through the ink duct 3, but the arm 9 serves rather as a means for exerting light or gentle pressure against the sack so that a moderately free flow ot' the ink is insured. 1t will be evident at this point that the arm 9 will move bodily diametrically of the barrel of the pen, under the influence of the spring 18, and gradually, as the ink is exhausted from the sack 7, and advantage is taken of this movement to actuate the indicating means heretofore referred to, as will be presently explained.

It will be understood at this point that when the presser arm 9 is moved diametricali ly within the barrel of the pen against the tension of the spring 18, the ink sack 7 will be relieved of pressure and through its in herent resiliency will expand, thus drawing in ink through the ink duct 3 and thereby replenishing ythe supply ot ink. In order that such movement of the arm 9 may be effected, an actuating member 20 is pivotally suspended at its upper end, as at 21, from the cap 8, and at its lower end is provided with an anti-friction roller 22 which is designed to ride against the upper end portion of the said arm 9 when the actuating member 2O is swung upon its pivot in one direction, namely toward the right in Figure 2 of the drawings. The means provided Jfor imparting such swinging motion to the actuating member 20 comprises a manually operable finger piece 2?) in the nature of a disc which is indicated by the numeral 24 and which is hinged at one side as at 25 within a recess 2G formed in the upper side of the cap 8.

A thrust link 27 is pivotally suspended at its upper end, as at 28, from the under side of the linger piece 23 and depends beside the upper end portion of the actuating member 20. The actuating member 2O is provided upon its side which opposes the thrust link 27, with a shoulder 29, and the said thrust link is provided with a similar shoulder 80. A spring 31 is secured at one end to the cap 8 and bears at its Jfree end portion against the thrust link 27 so as to yieldably hold the thrust link against the actuating member 20. Normally the finger piece 23 seats within the recess 2G and nearly flush with the top of the cap 8, and in order that the free side of the said finger piece may be engaged by a finger nail preparatory to swinging the finger piece in an upward direction, it is preferably provided at its said side with a notch indicated by the numeral 32.

Assuming that the pen is empty or nearly empty and that the parts of the device are in the positions illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings, and likewise assuming that it is desired to replenish the supply of ink, the finger piece 23 is swung upwardly about its hinge 25 and carries with it theA thrust link 27. When the finger piece 23 has been swung to a more or less elevated position, the shoulder 30 of the thrust link will engage above the shoulder 29 of the actuating member 20, the thrust link being at such time urged in the direction of the said actuating member through the medium of the spring 31. Upon engagement of the shoulder 30 above the shoulder 29, the linger piece 23 is pressed downwardly toward its original position, and a thrust will be exerted against the shoulder 29, and as this shoulder is laterally displaced with relation to the pivot 21 for the actuating member 20, the said actuating member will be bodily swung about its pivot and the anti-friction roller 22 at the lower end thereof will ride against the upper end portion of the presser arm 9. As a consequence the arm 9 will be moved bodily diametrically of the barrel oi the pen and against the tension of the spring 18 and likewise in a direction away from the ink sack 7. As the ink sack 7 is at this time relieved or substantially relieved oi pressure, it will, through its inherent resiliency, expand thus creating a suction servdrawings, the shoulder of the thrust link having slipped from engagement with the shoulder 27 thereby relieving the thrust upon the actuating member 20 and permitting this member to swing by gravity to the posfif tion shown in said Figure 1. The ink sack 7 will now be substantially lilled with ink. and the presser arm 9, being relieved of the force exerted against it by the actuating member 20, will be free to move under the infiuence of the spring 18 and, being lin engagement with the ink sack, will exert a light pressure against the side oi' the sack. As previously stated, this pressure is not suiiicient to unduly compress the sack so as to forcibly eject an undesirable quantity of ink through the ink duct, but is exerted only to a limited degree such as will merely insure of free flow of the vink to the pen point. As the ink is gradually exhausted from the ink sack, the presser arm will, be gradually moved d'iametrically of the interior of the barrel of the pen under the infiuence of the spring 18 until, at the time the sack is empty, or substantially empty, the arm will assume about the position show in Figure 2 of the drawings. Advantage is taken of the movement ofthe presser arm to actuate an indicator means which will now be described.

The indicating means comprises a shallow casing 33 which is supported within an opening 34 formed in the side of the barrel of the pen opposite to and adjacent the presser arm 9. The casing 33 has fitted to its open upper side, a cap plate 35 which is secured in place in any suitable manner, and above the said Cap plate is arranged a face plate 36 having thereon, near the upper end, the word Full, and, near the lower end, the word Empty. A frame 37, having a sight opening 38, is fitted -over the casing 33 and over the cap and face plates 35 and 36, the latter plate being visible. through the said sight opening 38. The numeral 39 indicates a pointer having a base 40 which `is slidably mounted at one side of the interior of vthe casing 33, vand the finger of the pointer extends across the upper side of the face plate 36 and moves between the Full and Empty designations upon vthe said face plate. A wire spring 41 is coiled aboutapost 42 within the casing 33 and is connected with the pointer 39 and yieldably holds the pointer shifted in an upward direction and with the pointer finger `registering with the designation Full. A flexible element 43 is connected at one end to the base of the lpointer and is passed about an anti-friction roller or sleeve 44 mounted at one end of the frame 37 and is connected at its other end to the presser arm 9 near the free lower end of-said arm. The last mentioned end of the flexible element may be connected to the said arm 9. in any manner desired, as, for example, by engaging the end of the element through an opening 45 in the arm and anchoring the end of the element in said opening by a taper pin 46. As above stated, the spring 41 yieldably holds the indicator finger 'iny elevated or i Full position, but as this sprinV is of less strength than the sp-ring 18,

and t e. arm 9 is moved through the infine-nce of the spring 18 as the ink is gradually exhausted from the ink sack, the said arm will exert a pull upon the flexible lelement 43 thus gradually lowering the ind-icator iinger toward Empty position. Thus the user of the pen may, at a glance, determine approximately ythe amount of ink remaining in the ink sack and may thereftlire determine when to replenish the sup P y- The valve heretofore referred to is indicated -in general by the numeral 47 and the said valve comprises an arm 48 which is pivotally mounted, as at 49, upon the ferrule 5, the arm 48 being provided at its free end with a valve head 50 which is of substantially frusto-conical form to fi-t the seat or duct 6 in the upper end of the thimble, when the valve is in closed position, and as clearly shown in Figure 8 of the drawings.`

in one side with a shallow channel 52. A

wire spring 53 is coiledl about the pivot 49 for the arm 48 of the valve and bears at one end, as at 54, upon the upper end of the ferrule 5 and at its other end engages a stud 55 which projects laterally from the arm 49,vv

the tendency of the spring being to hold the arm 48 in a downwardly swung position to seat the valve head 50 in the duct 6. It will be evident at this point that the arm 48 may be swung upwardly against the*- tension of the spring 53 so as to lift the yvalve 50 'from its seat and y,practically completely uncover the duct 6 and this is accomplished at the time the pen is to be refilled and by means which will nowvbe de'- Scribed. A small bearing bracket 56 is fixed upon the upper end of the ferrule 5 and a disc 57 is concentrically mounted for. rotative movement upon the said bracket, lthe, disc being provided with a Rotatably mounted upon the pin 55 is a cam disc 62 carrying a. laterally projeting stud v63 which is designed to engage a spring 64 mounted at one end upon the valve head 50, the spring tending to yieldably resist rotation of the disc 62 in one direction when the stud 63 comes into engagement with the said spring. The axis of rotation of the disc 62 is lower than the axis of rotation of the disc 57 and it will be evident therefore that, assuming the parts to be inthe position shown in Figure 4 of the drawings, expansion of the ink sack will permit the disc 57 to be rotated by the spring 59 thereby moving the pin 6l along the cam periphery of the disc 62 and effecting an upward swinging movement of the valve varm 48 against the tension of the spring 53, thereby lifting the valve 50 from its seat. After the pin 6l has passed a shoulder 65 which is located at the end of the righ point of the cam disc, the arm 48 will be released for downward swinging movement under the influence of the spring 53, and the valve 50 will be moved to closed position. It will now be evident that the valve 50 will remain closed, although vented by the passage 52 therein, until such time as the member 9 is shifted to relieve the ink sack of pres sure, whereupon the spring 59 will act torotate the disc 57, the wall of the sack being at such time out of contact with the finger 58, and the valve will be open while the -sack is expanding, it being immediately closed, however, after the pin 61 has passed the shoulder 65.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, and means operable to render the pressure exerting means inactive.

2. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended inl; sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, and means operable to temporarily render the pressure exerting means inactive and then permit the same to become active.

3. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, and means operable to temporarily move the pressure exerting means ina direction away from thesaclr to relieve the sack of pressure, and then Apermit the pressure exerting means to again become active.

4. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended inl; sack within the barrel in communication -with the duct, a pressure exerting member' in engagement with the side of the sack, means yieldably urging the member in the direction of the sack to cause the member` to exert gentle pressure against the sack tending to collapse the same, and means operable to render the pressure. exerting member inactive.

5. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, acollapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, a pressure exerting member in engagement with the side of the sack, means yieldably urging the member in the ldirection of the sack to cause the member to exert gentle pressure against the sack tending to collapse the same, and means operable to temporarily render the pressure exerting member inactive and then permit the means operable to move the pressure exert-` ing member in a direction away from the sack and then release the same for actuation by its urging means.

'7. In a vfountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, a pressure exerting member diametrically movable within the barrel and engaging one side of the said sack, means yieldably urging the said pressure exerting member in the direction of the sack, an actuating member for coaction with the pressure exerting member when moved in one direction to move the pressure exerting member in a direction away from the sack, and means for temporarily exerting a thrust against the actuating member to actuate the same and then release the said member.

8. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the ink duct, a pressure exerting member diametrically movable within the barv rel and engaging one side of the ink sack, means yieldably urging the pressure exertllU ing member in the direction of the sack, a pivoted actuating member positioned to ride at its free end against the pressure exerting member, and arranged, when moved upon its pivot in one direction, to c-oact with the pressure exerting member to move the same in a direction away from the sack to relieve the sack of pressure and permit distension thereof, the said actuating member having a shoulder at one -side of its pivot, =a pivotally movable, manually operable member upon the barrel, and a thrust link pivotally connected with the said manually operable member and having a shoulder for coaction with the shoulder of the actuating member.

9. In a fountain pen., a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the ink duct, means normally 4exerting pressure against the sack and movable diametrically of the barrel in the collapse of the sack, and an indicator upon the barrel having operative connection with the said pressure exerting member and actuated through movement thereof.

10. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, and indicator means actuated through movement of the pressure exerting member and in ratio to the extent of collapse of the sack.

11. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, and indicator means comprising a slidably movable indicating member, a scale member with which the indicating member c-o-operates, and lexible connection between the said indicator member and the pressure exerting means.

12. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, and indicator means comprising a slidably movable indicating member, a scale member with which the indicating member cooperates, flexible connection between the said indicator member and the pressure exerting means, and means yieldably urging the indicator member toward one limit of its movement.

13. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, means operable to render the pressure exerting means inactive, and a valve for controlling the flow of ink through the ink duct and embodying means actuated through compression and distension of the ink sack to effect its movement to closed and open position.

14. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, means operable to render the pressure exerting means inactive, a vented valve normally closing the ink duct except for the vent, and means actuated through compression and distension of the sack to respectively close and open the said valve.

15. In a fountain pen, a barrel having an ink duct, a collapsible, normally distended ink sack within the barrel in communication with the duct, means normally exerting pressure against the sack, means operable to render the pressure exerting means inactive, a vented valve normally closing the ink duct except for the vent, and means actuated through compression and distension of the sack to respectively close and open the said valve, the said means comprising a rotatable disc having a projection engageable by the wall of the ink sack, a`

second cam disc mounted upon the stem of the valve lfor rotation eccentric to the axis of rotation Iof the first mentioned disc, means tending to rotate the first mentioned disc in a direction opposite that in which it is rotated through engagement of the wall of the sack against the said projection, and means upon the said lirst mentioned disc for coaction with the cam periphery of the second mentioned disc to effect elevation of the valve and its stem.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WALTER WILLIAMS. [-L. s] 

